Season Assessment

KS Native here, primarily hunt in KS. Last couple years finally started making it a tradition to go hunt IA while at the in laws in Omaha during the holidays. The quality of habitat and number of birds on IHAP isn't even remotely comparable to the "pool tables" (Wiha) I see hunting around KS. So many birds where we've been going, and if you look at the maps the DNR releases we aren't even in what's consider high density areas based on the surveys. 1 out of about every 5 patches of WIHA I drive by has any sort of suitable habitat for ANYTHING to live in, the rest are barren like a pool table like my grandpa used to always say.

I'd say for me personally, it was another average year. Find suitable habitat, find a covey or two per patch of WIHA and another truck or two. Gets frustrating spending half the day hauling ass from WIHA patch to WIHA patch trying to find any sort of resemblance of cover. Feels like the majority of my days were spend driving.

It was encouraging on the final day of the season, hunting public, did see some large coveys still that hadn't been shot out. Encouraging moving forward.
 
Living in eastern/ central Kansas it is nearly as close to me to get to SD as it is to get into pheasant in Kansas. I have access to some family farms up near the Nebraska border in eastern Kansas. Usually make a couple trips up there after deer season since nobody hunts upland on it. Usually I can get a couple opportunities on roosters and a couple covies of quail in a day. Sad to say it is getting worse. I hunted a day and a half and saw three pheasants and one covey. I didn’t go back a second time.15 years ago I would have a chance to limit on both or would consider it a down year. I travel up there for work and am often take back roads home. I have seen exactly one rooster on the road in the last 4 years in this area and there is some good patches I pass by.
 
I don’t know what happened but I have some ideas. I hunted southeast Nebraska for years and had some amazing hunts. Now it is a dumpster fire. Hunted North Dakota the last ten years and it is headed the same way as Nebraska. Things I have noted is loss of CRP, weather events And most of all Clean Farming and herbicides and pesticides. I noted this year in Dakota that in between rows of Sun Flowers and Corn it looked like an interstate highway or golf course. No trashy cover in between rows at all. Not like it used to be. If there were a few birds you could never get close to them. Like a told a friend on another forum after over 50 years of making two to three trips out west from Georgia it no longer makes any sense to spend the time, money and effort. I have had many fabulous hunts, some not so good, some bad, this year was beyond bad. Just doesn’t work for me anymore. I’m hanging it up. Take care.
 
So I listened to a little bit of the rooster road trip podcast yesterday. They hunted Kansas for 5 days I think. They never bagged a rooster and ended up focusing on quail. Sounds like a sad state of affairs in Kansas.
 
Not good neither in North Dakota or South Dakota. You see photos posted of 10 hunters holding ten birds. Sorry that ain’t crap. I hunted with two guys for 40 years. If we didn’t harvest at least 25 birds it was a bad hunt. Many years we got over 50. The last few years being going down hill. This year was unimaginable to me it was so bad. Loss of CRP, Clean farming , herbicides, pesticides, a few weather events. Birds don’t really have a chance. It won’t change only get worse. Sad but true. Anyway I have read a lot of your post. You are a great hunter and good guy. Wish I could be more upbeat. Just can’t I know what I’m talking about. Take care Bob!
 
PS. Bob read my North Dakota post from a day or two ago. I have hunted them all Iowa, Nebraska, North and South Dakota all my life many times three times a season. Yeah some folks have some decent hunts like you did a couple weeks ago but very much on totally wild birds you are an exception. Something is very wrong and I am hopeful of course just don’t see it changing.
 
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